User control over content delivery

ABSTRACT

Novel tools and techniques for Internet service providers to enable enhanced user control over content delivery. In an aspect of certain embodiments, these tools can allow the customer to select, on a variety of different bases, whether content should be obtained from the Internet or from a lower-cost source, such as a metropolitan content delivery network (“CDN”) operated by the ISP or a private peering connection with a content source. Both of these options can, for example, avoid accessing content over the Internet and thus can reduce ISP delivery costs. In some embodiments, these cost reductions can be passed to the consumer in the way the ISP accounts for the content delivery.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present disclosure may be related to the following commonly assignedapplications/patents:

This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), from thefollowing applications, the entire disclosure of each of which is herebyincorporated by reference, as if set forth in full in this document, forall purposes: provisional U.S. Patent Application No. 61/416,600, filedNov. 23, 2010, by Michael K. Bugenhagen and titled “Line PerformanceMetrics Customer Service Point”; provisional U.S. Patent Application No.61/429,866 filed Jan. 5, 2011, by Michael K. Bugenhagen and titled “LinePerformance Metrics Customer Service Point”; provisional U.S. PatentApplication No. 61/435,056 filed Jan. 21, 2011, by Michael K. Bugenhagenand titled “Access Control”; and provisional U.S. Patent Application No.61/481,282 filed May 2, 2011, by Michael K. Bugenhagen and titled“Communications Path State Machine.”

The respective disclosures of these applications/patents areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to computer networks, andmore particularly, to tools and techniques for providing customers of anInternet service provider with enhanced monitoring and control overtheir Internet connections.

BACKGROUND

Broadband Internet access has become nearly ubiquitous in mostindustrialized countries. Internet service providers (“ISP”) employ avariety of technologies, including without limitation digital subscriberline (“xDSL”) technologies, cable more (e.g., “DOCSIS”) technologies,wireless broadband technologies, and the like. In most cases, broadbandaccess is offered using a tiered structure, in which the subscriber(referred to herein as a “customer”) receives a certain allocatedbandwidth in return for a given fee (such as a monthly flat fee).

As use of the Internet as a content resource has grown, demands on ISPshave grown. For example, many customers regularly access streaming videoand other bandwidth-intensive content using their broadband connections.This increased demand for bandwidth through the provider's network tothe Internet has taxed ISP resources. One solution providers haveattempted to implement is the use of “local” content delivery networksand/or peering relationships with other providers to deliver thecustomer's requested content. Other providers have attempted to chargedifferential rates based on customer usage of bandwidth to the Internet.Societal and regulatory pressures such as the “net neutrality” movement,however, have largely prevented this sort of solution by ISPs.

As a result, both ISPs and customers are left with suboptimal options.The higher costs borne by ISPs to deliver high bandwidth contenteventually are passed on to customers, raising customer rates anddecreasing customer satisfaction. Accordingly, there is a need forsolutions that comply with “net neutrality” obligations but still allowcustomers flexibility in choosing content delivery options.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Certain embodiments, therefore, provide tools and techniques for ISPs toenable enhanced user control over content delivery. In an aspect ofcertain embodiments, these tools can allow the customer to select, on avariety of different bases, whether content should be obtained from theInternet or from a lower-cost source, such as a metropolitan contentdelivery network (“CDN”) operated by the ISP or a private peeringconnection with a content source. Both of these options can, forexample, avoid accessing content over the Internet and thus can reduceISP delivery costs. In some embodiments, these cost reductions can bepassed to the consumer in the way the ISP accounts for the contentdelivery.

In an aspect of some embodiments, the ISP can provide a user interfaceto allow the customer to select options for content delivery. Based onthe customer's input on how content should be obtained, the system mightmodify routing records to accommodate the customer's preferences. Whenthe system receives a request from the customer for a set of content,the system might route the request according to those routing records(e.g, to the original content source on the Internet or to analternative, lower-cost source). The content can then be delivered tothe customer from the selected source. Certain embodiments might alsoprovide a content provider portal, which can allow content providers toconfigure how content should be provided from a private peeringconnection and/or from a CDN operated by the ISP.

The tools provided by various embodiments include, without limitation,methods, systems, and/or software products. Merely by way of example, amethod might comprise one or more procedures, any or all of which areexecuted by a computer system. Correspondingly, an embodiment mightprovide a computer system (which can include, but is not limited to agateway) configured with instructions to perform one or more proceduresin accordance with methods provided by various other embodiments.Similarly, a computer program might comprise a set of instructions thatare executable by a computer system (and/or a processor therein) toperform such operations. In many cases, such software programs areencoded on physical, tangible and/or non-transitory computer readablemedia (such as, to name but a few examples, optical media, magneticmedia, and/or the like).

Merely by way of example, a system for delivering content, in accordancewith one set of embodiments might comprise a computer system (whichmight be implemented by a customer service point). The computer system,in an aspect, might comprise one or more processors a computer readablemedium in communication with the one or more processors. In an aspect,the computer readable medium can have encoded thereon a set ofinstructions executable by the computer system to perform one or moreoperations.

Merely by way of example, in one embodiment, the set of instructionscomprises instructions for providing a user interface for the subscriberto select whether a set of content should be obtained through anInternet drain of the ISP or from a content delivery network (“CDN”)associated with the ISP. The set of instructions might further compriseinstructions for updating one or more routing records within an ISPnetwork to correspond with the subscriber's selection.

In a set of embodiments, the system further comprises a network devicein the ISP network. In an aspect, the network device might be configuredto receive a request from the subscriber for the set of content androute the request from the subscriber in accordance with the updated oneor more routing records. The network device might be further configuredto deliver the set of content to the subscriber, in response to therequest.

A method of delivering content, in accordance with another embodiment,might comprise providing, with a computer system, a user interface forthe subscriber to select whether a set of Internet content should beobtained through an Internet drain of the ISP or from a content deliverynetwork (“CDN”) associated with the ISP. The method might furthercomprise updating one or more routing records within an ISP network tocorrespond with the subscriber's selection. In some embodiments, themethod comprises receiving, at the ISP network, a request from thesubscriber for the set of content. In an aspect, the method can compriserouting the request from the subscriber in accordance with the updatedone or more routing records, and/or delivering the set of content to thesubscriber, via the ISP network, in response to the request. In anaspect, the underlying routing and/or sourcing capability of the toolsand techniques described herein can allow resource resolution androuting to be directed by a record that uses customer address andcontent type, which facilitates content delivery with quality of servicemarking or network treatments as well.

An apparatus, in accordance with another set of embodiments, mightcomprise a computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set ofinstructions executable by one or more computers to perform one or moreoperations. The set of instructions might comprise instructions forproviding a user interface for the subscriber to select whether a set ofInternet content should be obtained through an Internet drain of the ISPor from a CDN associated with the ISP. The set of instructions mightfurther comprise instructions for updating one or more routing recordswithin an ISP network to correspond with the subscriber's selection,such that a request from the subscriber for the set of Internet contentis routed in accordance with the one or more routing records anddelivered to the subscriber in response to the request.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particularembodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions ofthe specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals areused to refer to similar components. In some instances, a sub-label isassociated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiple similarcomponents. When reference is made to a reference numeral withoutspecification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to refer to allsuch multiple similar components.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for providing usercontrol over content delivery, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram illustrating a method of providing usercontrol over content delivery, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary screen display illustrating a user interface forproviding user control over content delivery, in accordance with variousembodiments.

FIG. 4 is a generalized schematic diagram illustrating a computersystem, in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

While various aspects and features of certain embodiments have beensummarized above, the following detailed description illustrates a fewexemplary embodiments in further detail to enable one of skill in theart to practice such embodiments. The described examples are providedfor illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to oneskilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the present maybe practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances,certain structures and devices are shown in block diagram form. Severalembodiments are described herein, and while various features areascribed to different embodiments, it should be appreciated that thefeatures described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporatedwith other embodiments as well. By the same token, however, no singlefeature or features of any described embodiment should be consideredessential to every embodiment of the invention, as other embodiments ofthe invention may omit such features.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers used herein to expressquantities, dimensions, and so forth used should be understood as beingmodified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, theuse of the singular includes the plural unless specifically statedotherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unlessotherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as wellas other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considerednon-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompassboth elements and components comprising one unit and elements andcomponents that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically statedotherwise.

Certain embodiments provide tools and techniques for ISPs to enableenhanced user control over content delivery. In an aspect of certainembodiments, these tools can allow the customer to select, on a varietyof different bases, whether content should be obtained from the Internetor from a lower-cost source, such as a metropolitan content deliverynetwork (“CDN”) operated by the ISP or a private peering connection witha content source. Both of these options can, for example, avoidaccessing content over the Internet and thus can reduce ISP deliverycosts. This functionality can also enable both the content and contentdelivery in terms of quality of service treatment to be controllable bya single policy engine, which can be controlled by the customer toprovide seamless end-to-end control of content and user experience.Merely by way of example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/302,051,filed on a date even herewith by Bugenhagen and titled “User-BasedMonitoring and Control,” which is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety, discloses tools and techniques for providing users withcontrol over an Internet connection, including control over variousclass of service parameters and assignments. The tools and techniquesdisclosed by that application can be implemented together in the samecustomer signaling point (described therein as a customer service point)as the tools and techniques described herein with respect to usercontrol over content delivery.

In some embodiments, these cost reductions can be passed to the consumerin the way the ISP accounts for the content delivery. For example, theISP might charge a per-bit fee for content delivered from the Internetand a flat fee for content obtained from a lower-cost source.Alternatively and/or additionally, the ISP might charge a first fee(e.g., a per-bit fee) for content obtained from the Internet and asecond fee (e.g., a second per-bit fee) for content obtained from alower-cost source.

In an aspect of some embodiments, the ISP can provide a user interfaceto allow the customer to select options for content delivery. Merely byway of example, the user interface might enable the customer to select,based on the type of content, the source of content, etc., whether thecontent should be obtained from the Internet or from a lower-costsource, via the user of a user-configurable policy control server,service gateway, and/or modifiable DNS service (which can be implementedas a customer-facing customer service point, for example). In othercases, the user interface might allow the customer to indicate that allcontent should be obtained from the lower-cost source (when possible) orfrom the Internet.

Based on the customer's input on how content should be obtained, thesystem might modify routing records, and/or quality of service markings,to accommodate the customer's preferences. When the system receives arequest from the customer for a set of content, the system might routethe request according to those routing records (e.g., to the originalcontent source on the Internet or to an alternative, lower-cost source).The content can then be delivered to the customer from the selectedsource. Certain embodiments might also provide a content providerportal, which can allow content providers to configure how contentshould be provided from a private peering connection and/or from a CDNoperated by the ISP, and/or what treatment those packets should receiveon the network.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 that can provide these, and other,user-based control features. The system 100 includes a customer servicepoint 105. In some cases, as illustrated by FIG. 1, a customer service105 point can be implemented by a residential gateway 110.

A residential gateway 110 can be any device that provides connectivitybetween a subscriber and a provider's network. Such devices can include,without limitation, network interface devices (“NID”), broadband modems,voiceband modems, cellular modems, wireless modems and access points,routers, other interfaces between the customer's premises network andthe access network, and/or the like. Typically, the residential gatewaywill be located at the customer's premises, but this is not required inall embodiments. The residential gateway 110 provides connectivitybetween a customer network 115 and an ISP network 120 operated by anISP, such as a broadband provider. The ISP network 120, which cancomprise an access network, a core network, or both, provides, interalia, connectivity between the customer's network 110 and the Internet125, as is known in the art.

In a typical implementation, the residential gateway 110 will have afirst communication interface (e.g., a broadband interface or an uplinkinterface) that communicates with the access network 120 using whateverbroadband technology is employed (e.g., xDSL, DOCSIS, wirelessbroadband, etc.) and a second (local) communication interface that thatprovides connectivity with one or more customer devices (e.g., anEthernet port, 802.11x radio, etc.). In some embodiments, theresidential gateway 110 might include router functionality, such thatthe local communication interface might provide for communication with aplurality of devices in the customer network 115 via either wired orwireless connection. In other embodiments, the residential gateway 110might provide a single local interface, and/or local routerfunctionality might be implemented by a separate device. The nature ofthe customer's network 115 topology are not material to the scope ofvarious embodiments.

In other cases, a customer service point 105 might be located at adevice (not shown on FIG. 1) in the ISP network 120 itself and/or itmight be configured to communicate with the customer's residentialgateway 110 or network interface device, and/or any customer devices 130on the customer premises network. The customer service point 105, indifferent embodiments, can be located at any location (or integratedwith any device) that provides the customer service point 105 withvisibility into the configuration and/or performance of the network, asdescribed herein, and/or allows for configuration of network parameters,as described herein. Thus, in some cases, the customer service point 105can be in a device separate from the residential gateway 110 and/oraccess network 120, so long as it can communicate with appropriatedevices in the access network 120 and/or the residential gateway 110 toprovide the monitoring and control services described herein.

The customer devices 130 can include any devices that are capable ofnetwork communications (and, in particular aspects, IP communications).Such devices 130 can include, without limitation a laptop 130 a withwireless networking (e.g., IEEE 802.11x) capabilities, a mobile device130 b (e.g., a mobile phone, tablet computer, personal digitalassistant, etc.) with wireless networking capability, a television settop box 130 c, a networked personal computer 130 d and/or laptop 130 e,and the like. In some aspects, some (or all) of the customer devices 130are programmed with applications 135 that access the Internet 125 (e.g.,through the residential gateway 110 and/or the ISP network 120. Suchapplications can include, without limitation, web browsers 140, video ondemand applications (such as Netflix™, to name one example), VoIPapplications, online games, chat applications (including text chat,voice chat, and/or video chat applications), and any other type ofapplication that requires, or can benefit from, a connection with theInternet. In some cases, one or more of these applications might beconfigured to access the customer service point at the residentialgateway 105 (or elsewhere), e.g., using an application programminginterface (“API”), as described in further detail below.

While a web browser 140 can be considered, in one aspect, to be one ofthe applications 135 that use the Internet, the web browser 140 can alsoindependently be used to provide a user interface to the customerservice point 105 at the residential gateway 110 (or elsewhere), asdescribed in further detail below. Thus, the customer service point 105might be programmed with, e.g., a web server, in order to serve webpages to be displayed in a browser 140 of one or more of the devices 130for providing the user interaction described further herein. (Of course,in some embodiments, one or more of the devices 130 might be programmedwith a dedicated application that interfaces with the customer servicepoint 105 to provide similar interaction.)

The interface 145 between the ISP network 120 and the Internet 125 iscommonly referred to as an “Internet drain,” and content obtained by theISP from the Internet is referred to herein as content obtained throughthe Internet drain. The ISP network 115 might include a network device150, such as a router (e.g., an edge router, core router, etc.), DNSserver, policy server, and/or or website, which is responsible forreceiving requests from the residential gateway 110 and routing thoserequests to an appropriate server (or other host) to service therequest. This network device might be located in the ISP network, theInternet, or elsewhere. In a typical embodiment, the server will providecontent in response to the customer's request. The ISP network mightalso include an addressing server 155, such as a Domain Name Service(“DNS”) server, a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (“DHCP”) server,and/or the like. As is known in the art, the addressing server 155 isused to provide addressing information to resolve hostnames into IPaddresses so that requests can be routed (e.g., by the network device150) by IP address.

The addressing server 155 generally will include records correlatinghostnames (or domain names) to IP addresses, and the network devicegenerally will contain records indicating optimal routes to each of thehosts. Together, the DNS/DHCP records (or other addressing records)maintained by the addressing server 150 and the records maintained bythe network device 150 can all be considered types of “routing records.”(One skilled in the art will appreciate, of course, that a typical ISPnetwork might comprise many network devices 150 and/or addressingservers 155 working together to properly route requests from a customerto the proper host.

In addition to its connection through the Internet drain 145 to theInternet 125, the ISP network 120 may be in communication with (and/ormay comprise) a CDN 160. The CDN 160 might be operated by the ISP and/ormight be operated by a third party. In either case, The CDN 160 might beco-located at a metropolitan data center operated by the ISP.Additionally and/or alternatively, the ISP network 120 by and have aprivate peering connection with a peer network 165. As is known in theart, this private peering connection can provide communication betweenthe ISP network 120 and the peer network 125 without requiring trafficbetween the two networks to pass through the Internet drain 145. Thesealternative content sources can be considered “local” to the ISP(irrespective of their actual physical locations) because requests canbe routed to these networks without passing through the Internet drain

The CDN 160 might comprise a content store 170, which can store contentthat can be delivered to the customer via the residential gateway 110.Similarly the peer network 165 mile also comprise a content store 175storing content that can be delivered to the customer. In either case,the content store 165 or 175 can host content that mirrors contentavailable through the Internet drain, using caching and/or contentdelivery techniques that are known in the art.

The functionality of the system 100 is described in further detailbelow, but as a general matter, the customer service point 105 isconfigured to receive user input indicating whether the user would liketo receive certain types of content from the Internet 125 (i.e. throughthe Internet drain 145) or from an alternative source, such as thecontent store 170 in the CDN 160 and/or the content store 175 in thepeer network 165, if such content is available from one or both of thosesources. Such content can include, but is not limited to, streaming ordiscrete audio or video files, images, web-based content, applicationsor other files, and/or the like.

Based on this customer input, the customer service point 105 mightmodify one or more routing records on the network device 150 and/or theaddressing server 155. Merely by way of example, if the customerindicates that he or she would like to obtain a particular type ofcontent from an alternative content source, the next time the customerrequests content of that type, the ISP network 120 will route thatrequest to an alternative content source, e.g. the CDN 160 (using path180) and/or the peer network 165 (using path 185. That alternativecontent source will provide the requested content, and the ISP network120 will deliver the content to the residential gateway 110, which canprovide the content to one or more of the customer devices 130 forconsumption (e.g., by an application 135 and/or web browser 140 runningon the customer device). Alternatively, if the user specified that thecontent should be obtained from the Internet 125, the request would berouted through the Internet drain 145 to the appropriate location on theInternet 125 (using path 190).

In some embodiments, content located on the local service may beintegrated with enhanced storage and distribution functionality such asPersonal Video Recorder (“PVR”), and transparent caching that distributecontent to customers based on usage patterns and or statistical usagerecords. Alternatively and/or additionally, the alternative contentsources can be used to upload user-owned content, thereby providing astorage locker from which the customer can obtain user-owned content onother devices (or can be used to restore content after a failure of acustomer device, etc.). Thus, other licensing, digital rights and PVRcustomer storage locker concepts can be combined with the metro CDN tocreate a customer storage area under joint control of the metro CDN andthe customer (e.g., using the GUI/API of the customer service point).

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 of providing user control over contentdelivery, in accordance with a set of embodiments. It should be notedthat, while the techniques and procedures of the method 200 are depictedand/or described in a certain order for purposes of illustration, itshould be appreciated that certain procedures may be reordered and/oromitted within the scope of various embodiments, and/or that operationscan be added or substituted into the method 200 within the scope ofvarious embodiments. Moreover, while (as noted above), the operationsillustrated by FIG. 2 can be implemented by (and, in some cases, aredescribed below with respect to) the system 100 of FIG. 1 (or componentsthereof, such as the customer service point 105), these operations canalso be implemented using any suitable hardware implementation.Similarly, while the system 100 of FIG. 1 (and/or components thereof)can operate according to the method 200 illustrated by FIG. 2 (e.g., byexecuting instructions embodied on a computer readable medium), thesystem 100 can also operate according to other modes of operation and/orperform other suitable procedures.

At block 205, the method 200 comprises providing a customer servicepoint. Providing a customer service point can involve one or more of avariety of operations. Merely by way of example, in some cases,providing a customer service point might comprise providing the customerwith a residential gateway that functions as a customer service point.In other cases, providing a customer service point can compriseoperating a customer service point in the access network, or providingcommunication between the access network and a residential gateway (orother device) to allow the residential gateway (or other device) to actas a customer service point (or an interface thereto).

The method 200 further comprises communicating with the Internet (block210) and communicating with one or more customer devices (block 215).Merely by way of example, in a particular set of embodiments, aresidential gateway (which might incorporate a customer service point)might communicate with both the Internet (e.g., via the ISP network) anda customer device, to provide connectivity between the customer deviceand the Internet, thereby serving as the interface between the customerand the customer's broadband connection. In an aspect, the residentialgateway might have a first communication interface (e.g., an uplinkport) that communicates with the Internet and a second communicationinterface (e.g., a wireless radio, one or more downlink ports, etc.)that communicate with a customer network, and/or one or more customerdevices. The residential gateway, then, can transmit on one interfacethe information (e.g., IP packets) received on the other interface. Inone aspect, as the information passes through the residential gateway,the residential gateway, acting as the customer service point, canperform any monitoring and/or impose any transmission control, requiredby the customer service point configuration. (It should be noted, ofcourse, that such monitoring and control can also be performed at otherdevices, such as a DSLAM and/or a router in the access network.)

At block 220, the method comprises providing a user interface. The userinterface can provide for interaction between a user (e.g., a customer,etc.) and a computer system (e.g., a customer service point). Forexample, the user interface can be used to output information for auser, e.g., by displaying the information on a display device, printinginformation with a printer, playing audio through a speaker, etc.; theuser interface can also function to receive input from a user, e.g.,using standard input devices such as mice and other pointing devices,motion capture devices, touchpads and/or touchscreens, keyboards (e.g.,numeric and/or alphabetic), microphones, etc.

The procedures undertaken to provide a user interface, therefore, canvary depending on the nature of the implementation; in some cases,providing a user interface can comprise displaying the user interface ona display device controlled by the customer service point; in othercases, however, in which the user interface is displayed on a deviceremote from the customer service point (such as on a client computer,wireless device, etc.), providing the user interface might compriseformatting data for transmission to such a device and/or transmitting,receiving and/or interpreting data that is used to create the userinterface on the remote device. Alternatively and/or additionally, theuser interface on a client computer (or any other appropriate customerdevice) might be a web interface, in which the user interface isprovided through one or more web pages (and/or a web portal) that areserved from the customer service point (and/or a web server incommunication with the computer system), and are received and displayedby a web browser on the client computer (or other capable customerdevice). The web pages can display output from the customer servicepoint and receive input from the user (e.g., by using Web-based forms,via hyperlinks, electronic buttons, etc.). A variety of techniques canbe used to create these Web pages and/or display/receive information,such as JavaScript, Java applications or applets, dynamic HTML and/orAJAX technologies, to name but a few examples.

In many cases, providing a user interface will comprise providing one ormore display screens (an example of which is described below), each ofwhich includes one or more user interface elements. As used herein, theterm “user interface element” (also described as a “visual object,”“user interface mechanism,” or “user interface device”) means any text,image, or device that can be displayed on a display screen for providinginformation to a user and/or for receiving user input. Some suchelements are commonly referred to as “widgets,” and can include, withoutlimitation, icons, images, text, text boxes, text fields, tables and/orgrids, menus, toolbars, charts, hyperlinks, buttons, lists, combo boxes,checkboxes, radio buttons, and/or the like. While any illustratedexemplary display screens might employ specific user interface elementsappropriate for the type of information to be conveyed/received bycomputer system in accordance with the described embodiments, it shouldbe appreciated that the choice of user interface elements for aparticular purpose is typically implementation-dependent and/ordiscretionary. Hence, the illustrated user interface elements employedby any display screens described herein should be considered exemplaryin nature, and the reader should appreciate that other user interfaceelements could be substituted within the scope of various embodiments.

As noted above, in an aspect of certain embodiments, the user interfaceprovides interaction between a user and a computer system, such as thecustomer service point. Hence, when this document describes proceduresfor displaying (or otherwise providing) information to a user, or toreceiving input from a user, the user interface may be the vehicle forthe exchange of such input/output. Merely by way of example, in a set ofembodiments, the user interface allows the user (e.g., the customer) toprovide configuration information to control content delivery options.

Thus, for instance, at block 225, the method comprises receiving (e.g.,at the customer service point) configuration information. Theconfiguration information can comprise any type of information orinstructions that indicate to the customer service point how contentshould be delivered to the customer (or, more specifically, to theresidential gateway and/or any customer devices in communicationtherewith). For example, the configuration information might specify, asa general matter, that all content should be obtained through theInternet drain, or that all content (at least to the extent possible)should be obtained from a metropolitan CDN, private peering arrangement,or other alternative content source. In some cases, configurationinformation can specify different preferences for different sets ofcontent, for different customer devices, and/or for different customerlocations. Merely by way of example, the configuration information mightspecify that content available from a particular host/domain/contentsource on the Internet should be obtained from an alternative contentsource if possible; thus, for instance, the user may provideconfiguration information that specifies that all content from Hulu.com™should be obtained from an alternative content source, but that allother content should be obtained through the Internet drain, or that allstreaming video content should be obtained from all alternative contentsource, but that all other content should be obtained through theInternet drain. Based on the disclosure herein, one skilled in the artcan see that there are a variety of ways in which content can becategorized, and that the examples provided herein should not beconsidered limiting. The configuration information can be used by thecustomer service point to create customer sourcing policies, which canbe stored at the customer service point and/or reflected in routingrecords (as described in further detail below).

In some cases, prior to receiving configuration information, thecustomer service point might authenticate the customer (or customerdevice) that attempts to provide the configuration information. Any of awide variety of authentication schemes can be used to authenticate thecustomer and/or the customer device, either through an API or through auser interface. Examples include, but are not limited to, a conventionaluserid/password challenge/response system, a certificate-based system(in which the customer/customer device is provided with one or moreauthentication certificates, either by the system itself or bythird-party certificate provider, in the system examines a certificateprovided with the message to authenticate the message source), key-basedauthentication (such as the Kerberos protocol, which can be used toauthenticate the customer or device, and/or the PGP protocol, whichmight be used to sign and/or encrypt the configuration informationitself). Based on the disclosure herein, one skilled in the art shouldunderstand that any of a number of commercially available authenticationmechanisms can be used to authenticate the customer and/or customerdevice.

In one aspect, the configuration information might be received via anAPI. Merely by way of example, a customer device, and/or an applicationexecuting on a customer device might access customer service point usingthe API, as described above, and provide configuration information usingthe API. This feature can be useful, for instance, in the context of adedicated video streaming application, which might provide configurationinformation to the customer service point in order to specify the sourcefrom which content should be delivered for that application. Theapplication/device might provide such configuration informationautomatically (i.e. without user input) and/or based upon user inputprovided to the application/customer device itself.

In another aspect, the configuration information might be received via auser interface, and in particular, via a GUI. FIG. 3 illustrates anexemplary screen display 300 that can be provided as part of a userinterface to a customer service point. The exemplary screen displayincludes a configuration panel 305 that includes user interface elementsto receive user input that provides configuration information for thecustomer service point. Although variety of different types of userinterface screens are possible within the scope of various embodiments,the embodiment illustrated by FIG. 3 allows the user to select contentdelivery options for several exemplary types of content. (Other panelsmight be configured to receive other types of configurationinformation.)

The exemplary screen display 300 includes a configuration panel 305. Itis worth noting that the configuration panel 305 can serve two purposes.First, the configuration panel can illustrate the current contentdelivery preferences of the user. Additionally and/or alternatively, theconfiguration panel 305 can provide an interface for the user to provideinput to select a content delivery option for each type of content. Forinstance, in the illustrated example, the configuration panel provides anumber of user interface devices 310 (in this case, checkboxes) withwhich the user can provide user input to indicate whether a particulartype of content should be delivered from an alternative content source.Alternative content sources are reference generally in FIG. 3 as a“localized content source,” which delivers “local content.” As such,local content can be considered any content that is obtained by the ISPfrom a source other than through the Internet drain and delivered to acustomer service point. Thus, examples of local content include, withoutlimitation, content from a metropolitan CDN, content obtained through aprivate peering connection, and/or the like.

A number of different options for specifying local content can besupported by various embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment, forexample, the configuration panel includes a subpanel 315 with a userinterface device 310 a for the user to specify that the ISP shouldattempt to obtain all possible content from a localized content source.(This option, which is a general setting, might override anycontent-specific settings described in further detail below.)

As illustrated, the configuration panel 305 includes a second subpanel320, which includes options that allow the user to have local contentobtained (again, when possible) for different types of content, based onthe nature of the content itself. For instance the user interfaceincludes a widget 310 b to allow the user to select to havevideo-on-demand content obtained from a localized content source, awidget 310 c to select a have broadcast television content obtained fromlocalized content source, a widget 310 d to select have special channels(which might be specialized video-on-demand channels, etc.) obtainedfrom a localized content source, and an option 310 e to have a customerservice point attempt these game servers that are localized (i.e. insidethe Internet drain from the perspective of the ISP). Based on theseexamples, one skilled in the art will appreciate that similar optionscould be provided for a wide variety of different types of content.

A third subpanel 325 might provide the customer with the ability tospecify that content from a particular organization or entity (whichmight be a particular Internet domain, content provider, and/or thelike) should be obtained from a localized source when possible. Merelyby way of example, as illustrated, the user can select a variety ofwidgets 310 f-j to have content from the corresponding list of providersdelivered from localized sources if possible.

In some cases, embodiments can provide more granular control over thesourcing of content. Merely by way of example, on the illustratedembodiment, a fourth subpanel 330 provides the customer with a number ofwidgets (310 k-310 n) with the ability to select various types ofcontent from a particular content provider (in this case ESPN™) to bedelivered from localized sources of possible.

Thus, using such options (and/or alternative techniques, in variousembodiments), the system can provide a user interface that allows thesubscriber to specify that some content should be obtained through theInternet drain of the ISP and that other content should be obtained froma localized content source (such as a CDN, private peer network, etc.).As indicated above, such selections can be made for each of a pluralityof types of content (e.g., data files, streaming video, video game data,video chat, and instant messaging, to name but a few examples), and/orcan specify whether content of that type should be obtained through theInternet drain of the ISP or from the content delivery network (“CDN”)associated with the ISP. Further, such selections can be made fordifferent sources of content (e.g., domains, hosts, content providers,etc.), allowing the subscriber to select to have content from somesources delivered through the Internet drain and content from othersources delivered from a CDN, etc. that is below the Internet drain.

The exemplary display screen 300 might also include a statistics panel335, which can be used to display statistics about content delivered tothe residential gateway. In one aspect, as illustrated, the statisticspanel 330 might display a statistic indicating how much content has beenobtained from the Internet drain and another statistic indicating howmuch content has been obtained for alternative content source, such asthe CDN, and/or a private peering network.

A number of variations are possible, of course. Merely by way ofexample, as shown, the statistics panel 330 illustrated by FIG. 3 caninclude textual statistics and/or graphical depictions of statistics,such as a pie chart, bar chart, etc., which might illustrate relativeproportions of content (e.g., on a bit-by-bit basis, session-by-sessionbasis, etc.) obtained from the Internet drain and/or from one or morealternative content sources. As another option, the statistics panel 330might include a line chart illustrating, over time, how much content hasbeen delivered through the Internet drain and/or from alternativecontent sources.

In any of these cases, the statistics panel might include statisticscategorized by the nature of the content (e.g., video, files, game data,etc.) and/or content source (e.g., by domain, website, etc.)illustrating how much of each type of content has been obtained from theInternet drain and/or from alternative sources. In further cases,statistics might show (textually and/or graphically) how much allocatedbandwidth the customer has used over a particular period of time (e.g.,500 MB/1000 MB used this month) and/or any bandwidth charges that havebeen accrued by the delivery of content from the Internet drain (orsaved by the delivery of content from an alternative content source).

Referring again to FIG. 2, the method 200 can further comprise updatingone or more routing records within an ISP network (block 230) tocorrespond with configuration information indicating the subscriber'scontent delivery preferences. This function can be accomplished in avariety of ways. Merely by way of example, in some cases, the customerservice point might update routing information (e.g., in a route table)within the residential gateway itself, for example, to provide a defaultroute to an alternative content source content source for any contentthat the customer indicates should be obtained from an alternativesource, or within a router (or other network device) within the ISPnetwork. Other possibilities exist as well.

For instance, in accordance with one set of embodiments, the ISP mightemploy DNS servers with specialized DNS records that reflect customersourcing policies, and the system might update one or more sourcingpolicies to reflect the received configuration information/sourcingpolicies received from a customer service point (which might providesuch updates automatically after receiving configuration informationfrom the customer). Such sourcing policies can be reflected (or evenstored) in the routing records (e.g., DNS records) themselves. Merely byway of example, in one embodiment, a standard DNS record (which mightinclude, for example, fields for the domain name, URL, IPv4 address, andIPv6 address for each host/domain that can be resolved by that server)might be modified to include additional information to enable the systemto accommodate customer preferences regarding the sourcing of contenthosted on a server that could be resolved by the DNS record. Merely byway of example, the standard DNS record might include an IPv4 addressand/or an IPv6 address, and/or a DNS name for a particular customerand/or a particular content source; these addresses generally wouldreference that server on the Internet (i.e., “above” the Internetdrain). As modified, the DNS record might include an IPv4 address and/oran IPv6 address for an alternative or localized (i.e., “below” theInternet drain) content source. In an aspect, the modified DNS recordmight include both “above the drain” and “below the drain” addresses fora particular host or domain that can serve as a content source. In thisway, the same DNS record can be used for customers who want to obtainthat content from a localized source and for customers who want toobtain the content from the Internet. Thus, updating a routing recordcan comprise adding a customer/customer service point to a customer listin one or more DNS records, just to name one example.

In order to determine which address should be used for a particularcustomer, the DNS record might include additional fields as well. Merelyby way of example, the DNS record (or another database record, which maybe referenced by the DNS record) might include one or more customerlists. For example, a first customer list might include identificationsof customers that wish to receive local content from the host/domainreferenced by the DNS record, while a second customer list might includeidentifications of customers that wish to receive the content from theInternet. Alternatively, there may be only one list of customers, whichcould include identifications only of customers that wish to receivelocal content for that host/domain or could include identifications onlyof customers that wish to receive content from the Internet for thathost/domain. Other possibilities exist as well.

For instance, the DNS record might include a “content status” field,which could indicate whether local content is available. The system, forexample, might check periodically to ensure that local content for eachhost/domain remains available, and if such content becomes unavailablefor some reason modify the “content status” field of the correspondingDNS record; in such a case, the DNS server might stop redirectingrequests to the “below the drain” address and resolve all host/domainqueries for that record to the “above the drain” address. Optionally,the system might trigger an alarm to notify a management system and/oran administrator that the content has become unavailable.

The identifications of customers can include any type of identifier thatis sufficient to identify one customer from among a plurality ofcustomers. Merely by way of example, in some cases the customeridentification might be an identifier (such as an IP address, MACaddress, etc.) of the customer service point associated with thecustomer. In other cases, the identifier could be a telephone number,e-mail address, ISP userid, etc. of the customer.

In some embodiments, the DNS record might also include a homing statusfield, which can indicate which customer list should be provided whichaddress. In some cases the DNS record might also include a redirectaddress, which could indicate an address to which a customer/customerdevice should be directed if the content is unavailable. The DNS recordcan include any other appropriate fields as well.

In embodiments in which the DNS record is modified, when the DNS serverreceives a request (e.g., from a customer device via a customer servicepoint) to resolve a domain name or hostname, the DNS server candetermine, based on the identification of the customer (and/or customerservice point) and the presence (or absence) of that identification inone of the customer lists, whether the resolved address should be the“above the drain” (i.e., Internet”) address, or the “blow the drain”(i.e., localized content source) address. The DNS server then, canprovide the selected address in response to the request.

It is appreciated that, in some cases, the modifications described aboveto a DNS server might not allow backwards compatibility with othernetwork elements and/or clients that expect conventional DNSfunctionality. This issue can be resolved in multiple ways. Merely byway of example, in some cases, if the requesting client is notidentified in any customer list, the DNS server might default toconventional behavior, in which the Internet address is provided to therequesting client. In other cases, the system might employ multiple DNStables on a single DNS server, and/or multiple DNS servers, to servicedifferent types of clients. For example, DNS requests received from theInternet might be serviced with one table, while another table is usedto service customers of the ISP; a third table might be used, forinstance, for customer virtual private networks (“VPN”) or private cloudinstances. Policy decisions for any given customer could be stored oneper customer, or even multiple policies per customer, e.g., based on thecustomer's location and/or the customer device being used to perform therequest, such as a wireless phone vs. a set top box.

While examples are provided above, with respect to modification ofrunning records, it should be appreciated that various embodiments canuse any appropriate solution, including without limitation modificationof route tables and/or DNS records, as described above, to achieve themodification of routing records. Thus, the described examples should beconsidered only illustrative in nature and do not limit the scope ofvarious embodiments.

Returning to FIG. 2, at block 235, the method 200 comprises receiving,e.g., at the ISP network (or a network device therein), a request fromthe subscriber for the set of content. The request is routed (e.g., bythe network device) in accordance with the updated routing records(block 240). For example, in an embodiment, the network device, such asa router, might receive request addressed to a content source. Theaddress of the request might have been provided, for example, by a DNSserver in response to a request from a customer service point, and theaddress provided by the DNS server might have been determined using thetechnique described above. In such a case, the router will route therequest using conventional techniques on a route determined by thatrouters route tables. If the request pertains to content that thecustomer has specified should be obtained from an alternative source,the address will be associated with the alternative source, and therequest will be routed to the alternative source. Conversely, if therequest pertains to content that the customer has not indicated shouldcome from an alternative source, the address will correspond to theInternet address of that source, and the request will be routedaccordingly.

Alternatively, in a system in which route tables are modified, therouter (or other network device) might receive a request addressed tothe Internet address for the content, and the router might reroute thatrequest, in accordance with a modified route table, to redirect therequest to a localized content source, if the customer is specified thatsuch content should be obtained from an alternative content source. Inan aspect, customer identification may also be done off-board of the DNSor policy system by doing a “look up” of an IP address to a customerauthentication database or other customer ID functional system.

The ISP network (and/or one or more devices therein, such as one or morenetwork devices) delivers the set of content to the subscriber, inresponse to the request (block 245). In an aspect, delivering thecontent can comprise receiving the content from the content source(whether local or above the Internet drain) and routing the content tothe residential gateway that requested the content (and/or, morespecifically, to the residential gateway that serves the customer devicethat requested the content). In many cases, the content will be receivedand routed by the ISP network in conventional fashion (i.e., the contentwill comprise a plurality of IP packets addressed to the residentialgateway, and the ISP network will route those packets conventionally),although this is not required.

In some cases, the method 200 further comprises, at block 250 accountingfor delivering the set of content. In some cases, this accounting isbased on the customer's selection of a content source for the content.Accounting for the content can comprise a number of differentoperations. Merely by way of example, in one embodiment, the ISP (or,more precisely, a billing system operated by the ASP) might build asubscriber one) content obtained through the Internet drain in anotherrate for content obtained from alternative source below the Internetdrain. For instance, the ISP might build a subscriber a flat rate forcontent obtained from sources below the Internet drain and a per-bitrate (or the equivalent, such as a per-megabit rate etc.) for contentobtained through the Internet drain. Alternatively, the ISP might billthe subscriber a first per-bit rate for content obtained through theInternet drain and a second (e.g., lower) per-bit rate for contentobtained from an alternative source below the Internet drain.Alternatively and/or additionally, the ISP might bill the subscriber amonthly flat fee, which includes unlimited content from sources belowthe drain, with per-event flat rates additions each time content isobtained from above the Internet drain and/or per-bit charges forcontent obtained from above the Internet drain.

In another embodiment, accounting for delivering content might comprisesubjecting content delivered from above the Internet drain to usage caps(such as a fixed number of bits over a particular period, such as amonth, above which the ISP would not deliver any additional content fromabove the Internet drain and/or might charge additional fees for suchcontent). In such cases, content obtained from alternative contentsources below the Internet drain might be exempt from such usage caps.Alternatively and/or additionally, the ISP might subject contentdelivered from above the Internet drain to bandwidth restrictions (e.g.,a particular number of bits per second), while content delivered frombelow the Internet drain might be exempt from such bandwidthrestrictions.

In other cases, the system might provide a content provider portal forcontent providers to manage Internet content stored in the CDN (block255). In an aspect, this portal might provide an interface for a contentprovider to upload content to the CDN and/or to assign an IP addressand/or URL to content uploaded to the CDN. The content provider portalcan provide other options as well. For instance, in some cases, theportal might allow providers to enable and/or disable redirection fortheir content, perhaps on an ad hoc and/or dynamic basis. In an aspect,this web portal can interface with a DNS server, router, etc. (or anintermediary computer that can provide such an interface) to effect thechanges received from the content provider via the portal. For instance,in embodiment that employs modified DNS records, if a content provideraccesses the portal to provide a URL and IP address for localizedcontent, the Web portal might update the appropriate DNS record(s) toreflect the information provided by the content provider.

FIG. 4 provides a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a computersystem 400 that can perform the methods provided by various otherembodiments, as described herein, and/or can function as a customerservice point, residential gateway, monitoring device, customer device,and/or the like. It should be noted that FIG. 4 is meant only to providea generalized illustration of various components, of which one or more(or none) of each may be utilized as appropriate. FIG. 4, therefore,broadly illustrates how individual system elements may be implemented ina relatively separated or relatively more integrated manner.

The computer system 400 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 405 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements may include one ormore processors 410, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors(such as digital signal processing chips, graphics accelerationprocessors, and/or the like); one or more input devices 415, which caninclude without limitation a mouse, a keyboard and/or the like; and oneor more output devices 420, which can include without limitation adisplay device, a printer and/or the like.

The computer system 400 may further include (and/or be in communicationwith) one or more storage devices 425, which can comprise, withoutlimitation, local and/or network accessible storage, and/or can include,without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, an optical storagedevice, solid-state storage device such as a random access memory(“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable,flash-updateable and/or the like. Such storage devices may be configuredto implement any appropriate data stores, including without limitation,various file systems, database structures, and/or the like.

The computer system 400 might also include a communications subsystem430, which can include without limitation a modem, a network card(wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device, a wirelesscommunication device and/or chipset (such as a Bluetooth™ device, an802.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, a WWAN device, cellularcommunication facilities, etc.), and/or the like. The communicationssubsystem 430 may permit data to be exchanged with a network (such asthe network described below, to name one example), with other computersystems, and/or with any other devices described herein. In manyembodiments, the computer system 400 will further comprise a workingmemory 435, which can include a RAM or ROM device, as described above.

The computer system 400 also may comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 435, including anoperating system 440, device drivers, executable libraries, and/or othercode, such as one or more application programs 445, which may comprisecomputer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or may bedesigned to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided byother embodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, one ormore procedures described with respect to the method(s) discussed abovemight be implemented as code and/or instructions executable by acomputer (and/or a processor within a computer); in an aspect, then,such code and/or instructions can be used to configure and/or adapt ageneral purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or moreoperations in accordance with the described methods.

A set of these instructions and/or code might be encoded and/or storedon a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, such as thestorage device(s) 425 described above. In some cases, the storage mediummight be incorporated within a computer system, such as the system 400.In other embodiments, the storage medium might be separate from acomputer system (i.e., a removable medium, such as a compact disc,etc.), and/or provided in an installation package, such that the storagemedium can be used to program, configure and/or adapt a general purposecomputer with the instructions/code stored thereon. These instructionsmight take the form of executable code, which is executable by thecomputer system 400 and/or might take the form of source and/orinstallable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation on thecomputer system 400 (e.g., using any of a variety of generally availablecompilers, installation programs, compression/decompression utilities,etc.) then takes the form of executable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware (such as programmable logic controllers,field-programmable gate arrays, application-specific integratedcircuits, and/or the like) might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer system (such as the computer system 400) to perform methods inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention. According to a setof embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 400 in response to processor 410executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 440 and/or other code, such asan application program 445) contained in the working memory 435. Suchinstructions may be read into the working memory 435 from anothercomputer readable medium, such as one or more of the storage device(s)425. Merely by way of example, execution of the sequences ofinstructions contained in the working memory 435 might cause theprocessor(s) 410 to perform one or more procedures of the methodsdescribed herein.

The terms “machine readable medium” and “computer readable medium,” asused herein, refer to any medium that participates in providing datathat causes a machine to operation in a specific fashion. In anembodiment implemented using the computer system 400, various computerreadable media might be involved in providing instructions/code toprocessor(s) 410 for execution and/or might be used to store and/orcarry such instructions/code (e.g., as signals). In manyimplementations, a computer readable medium is a non-transitory,physical and/or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take manyforms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media,and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, for example,optical and/or magnetic disks, such as the storage device(s) 425.Volatile media includes, without limitation, dynamic memory, such as theworking memory 435. Transmission media includes, without limitation,coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise the bus 405, as well as the various components of thecommunication subsystem 430 (and/or the media by which thecommunications subsystem 430 provides communication with other devices).Hence, transmission media can also take the form of waves (includingwithout limitation radio, acoustic and/or light waves, such as thosegenerated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications).

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer readable mediainclude, for example, USB drive, a memory card, a floppy disk, aflexible disk, a hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium,a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any otherphysical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, aFLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave asdescribed hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer canread instructions and/or code.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 410for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 400. These signals,which might be in the form of electromagnetic signals, acoustic signals,optical signals and/or the like, are all examples of carrier waves onwhich instructions can be encoded, in accordance with variousembodiments of the invention.

The communications subsystem 430 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive the signals, and the bus 405 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals) to theworking memory 435, from which the processor(s) 405 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 435 may optionally be stored on a storage device 425 eitherbefore or after execution by the processor(s) 410.

While certain features and aspects have been described with respect toexemplary embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize thatnumerous modifications are possible. For example, the methods andprocesses described herein may be implemented using hardware components,software components, and/or any combination thereof. Further, whilevarious methods and processes described herein may be described withrespect to particular structural and/or functional components for easeof description, methods provided by various embodiments are not limitedto any particular structural and/or functional architecture but insteadcan be implemented on any suitable hardware, firmware and/or softwareconfiguration. Similarly, while certain functionality is ascribed tocertain system components, unless the context dictates otherwise, thisfunctionality can be distributed among various other system componentsin accordance with the several embodiments.

Moreover, while the procedures of the methods and processes describedherein are described in a particular order for ease of description,unless the context dictates otherwise, various procedures may bereordered, added, and/or omitted in accordance with various embodiments.Moreover, the procedures described with respect to one method or processmay be incorporated within other described methods or processes;likewise, system components described according to a particularstructural architecture and/or with respect to one system may beorganized in alternative structural architectures and/or incorporatedwithin other described systems. Hence, while various embodiments aredescribed with—or without—certain features for ease of description andto illustrate exemplary aspects of those embodiments, the variouscomponents and/or features described herein with respect to a particularembodiment can be substituted, added and/or subtracted from among otherdescribed embodiments, unless the context dictates otherwise.Consequently, although several exemplary embodiments are describedabove, it will be appreciated that the invention is intended to coverall modifications and equivalents within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a relationship between an Internet serviceprovider (“ISP”) and a subscriber, a system for delivering content, thesystem comprising: a computer system, comprising: one or moreprocessors; and a computer readable medium in communication with the oneor more processors, the computer readable medium having encoded thereona set of instructions executable by the computer system to perform oneor more operations, the set of instructions comprising: instructions forproviding, from a customer service point in a residential gateway thatprovides connectivity between the subscriber and a network of the ISP, auser interface for the subscriber to select whether a set of contentshould be obtained through an Internet drain of the ISP or from acontent delivery network (“CDN”) associated with the ISP; andinstructions for updating, from the customer service point, one or morerouting records within an ISP network to correspond with thesubscriber's selection; a network device in the ISP network, the networkdevice configured to: receive a request from the subscriber for the setof content; route the request from the subscriber in accordance with theupdated one or more routing records; and deliver the set of content tothe subscriber, in response to the request.
 2. In a relationship betweenan Internet service provider (“ISP”) and a subscriber, a method ofdelivering content, the method comprising: providing, with a computersystem, a user interface for the subscriber to select whether a set ofInternet content should be obtained through an Internet drain of the ISPor from a content delivery network (“CDN”) associated with the ISP,wherein the computer system comprises a customer service point in aresidential gateway that provides connectivity between the subscriberand a network of the ISP; updating, from the customer service point, oneor more routing records within an ISP network to correspond with thesubscriber's selection; receiving, at the ISP network, a request fromthe subscriber for the set of content; routing the request from thesubscriber in accordance with the updated one or more routing records;and delivering the set of content to the subscriber, via the ISPnetwork, in response to the request.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinthe one or more routing records comprise one or more domain name system(“DNS”) records on a DNS server.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein eachof the one or more DNS records comprises a plurality of fields, theplurality of fields including at least one IP address associated with anInternet source of the set of Internet content, and at least one IPaddress associated with a CDN source of the set of Internet content. 5.The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of fields further comprisesa subscriber list field that identifies one or more subscribers thathave selected to obtain the set of Internet content from the CDN.
 6. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the one or more routing records comprisedynamic host configuration protocol (“DHCP”) records on a DHCP server.7. The method of claim 2, wherein the CDN is operated by the ISP.
 8. Themethod of claim 2, wherein the CDN is operated by a third party andco-located within the ISP network.
 9. The method of claim 2, wherein theCDN is outside the ISP network by a third party having a peeringarrangement with the ISP.
 10. The method of claim 2, further comprising:accounting for delivering the set of content, based at least in part onthe subscriber's selection.
 11. The method of claim 10, whereinaccounting for delivering the set of content comprises: subjecting theset of content to a usage cap if the subscriber selects to obtain theset of Internet content through the Internet drain; and exempting theset of content to a usage cap if the subscriber selects to obtain theset of Internet content from the CDN associated with the ISP.
 12. Themethod of claim 10, wherein accounting for delivering the set of contentcomprises: billing the subscriber a first rate for the set of content ifthe subscriber selects to obtain the set of Internet content through theInternet drain; and billing the subscriber a second rate for the set ofcontent if the subscriber selects to obtain the set of Internet contentfrom the CDN associated with the ISP.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the first rate is a per-bit rate.
 14. The method of claim 12,wherein the first second rate a is flat rate.
 15. The method of claim10, wherein accounting for delivering the set of content comprises:subjecting the set of Internet content to a first bandwidth restrictionif the subscriber selects to obtain the set of Internet content throughthe Internet drain; and exempting the set of Internet content to asecond bandwidth restriction, or no bandwidth restriction, if thesubscriber selects to obtain the set of Internet content from the CDNassociated with the ISP.
 16. The method of claim 2, wherein the userinterface comprises a web portal.
 17. The method of claim 2, wherein theuser interface allows the subscriber to specify that some content shouldbe obtained through the Internet drain of the ISP and that other contentshould be obtained from the CDN.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein theuser interface provides the subscriber with an option to select, foreach of a plurality of types of content, whether content of that typeshould be obtained through the Internet drain of the ISP or from thecontent delivery network (“CDN”) associated with the ISP.
 19. The methodof claim 18, wherein the plurality of types of content comprises datafiles, streaming video, video game data, video chat, and instantmessaging.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the user interfaceprovides the subscriber with an option to select, for each of aplurality of sources of content, whether Internet content from thatsource should be obtained through the Internet drain of the ISP or fromthe content delivery network (“CDN”) associated with the ISP.
 21. Themethod of claim 2, further comprising: providing a content providerportal for content providers to manage Internet content stored in theCDN.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the content provider portalprovides an interface for a content provider to upload content to theCDN and assign an IP address and URL to the content uploaded to the CDN.23. The method of claim 2, further comprising: receiving, from acustomer device, customer-owned content; and storing the customer-ownedcontent at the CDN.
 24. An apparatus, comprising: a non-transitorycomputer readable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructionsexecutable by one or more computers to perform one or more operations,the set of instructions comprising: instructions for providing, from acustomer service point in a residential gateway that providesconnectivity between a subscriber and a network of the ISP, a userinterface for the subscriber to select whether a set of Internet contentshould be obtained through an Internet drain of the ISP or from acontent delivery network (“CDN”) associated with the ISP; andinstructions for updating, from the customer service point, one or morerouting records within an ISP network to correspond with thesubscriber's selection, such that a request from the subscriber for theset of Internet content is routed in accordance with the one or morerouting records and delivered to the subscriber in response to therequest.